Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1887-10-28

On the morrow RITA would be eighteen
Valdez passed the day in a state
dazed illumination.
He refused to let his daughter com,
down stairs to breakfast, sor fear tina
she would trip.
mo coffee, my dear" he said, "a
glass of lemonade is more wholesome.
Heavensp he shrieked
"What is itq' asked the astonished
girl.
"There is lemon seed in the glass,
said her father. ''You might have swal-
lowed it.
Rita laughed. 1t was such trihe,
she told her father.
But Valdez would have his way. He
poured out another glass, and examined
every particle of food that came into the
room. He prohibited meat, because ii
might produce fever.
lie was just as particular about every
thing. and before the day was over Rita
kyew so nervous that she did not much
ITa,re whether she lived or died.
q Before night the windows were Sc
drely barred, the room was searched to
See that no assassin had concealed him
seIf, and finally at late hour Valdez
told his daughter that he was afraid tc
give her any supper.
"The truth is, he said, 81 am afraid
Of poison" "
"May have few bananas2" pleaded
the senorita.
Bananas, shouted her father. "Why
ofcourse. They cannot hurt you Yes,
you shall have a whole bunch.
He gave his orders, and in a few
minutes the tempting looking fruit was
brought into the room.
Valdez kissed his daughter, and
locked her in. He did not tell her Of
his purpose but all night long he paced
the hall in his stocking feet with a pis
tol in his hand.
The first glimmer of dawn came
through the windows of the palace.
"Rita's eighteenth birthday" said the
happy father with smiling face. "She
is safe, and what is more, she veil be a
princessp
n Gradually the servants began to stir,
and the bright sunshine bathed the walls
in flood of glery.
Senior Valdez quietly unlocked the
door to the well-guarded chamber, and
stole in on tip-toe.
In moment the widest shrieks and
cries rang through the palace.
The servants rushed to Rita's room,
and the unutterable horror Of the sight
before them struck even the boldest
dumb
Senor Valdez lay stretched on the
floor in death-like swoon.
On the bed lay Rita, her face whittier
than the snowy pillow. There was a
horrible, brown, hairy something on her
throat!
One of the women approached gently
and tore the ugly thing away, and killed
it with her slipper.
1t was tarantula and it had done its
deadly work only too we'll. Rita's throat
bore the mark of its poisonous sting.
The servants understood it all when
they saw the bunch of bananas in chair
by the bed The tarantula had crawled
out during the night, and had stung the
lovely victim to death while she slept!
Valdez recovered consciousness, but it
was only to be driven from the palace
to the asylum. To the day of his death
he remained gibbering maniac, without
the faintest CLEAN of sanity. Perhaps it
was blessing to have his mind SO com
pletely wiped out.
When the Empress Carlotta heard of
the death of her fayoritc she at once dis
her court entertainments for
the season. The empress felt the shock
50 severely that it is believed by many
in Mexico that her subsequent mental
troubles really datel from the death of
the unfortunate Rita. Il Atlanta Consti-
tuition.